Knobs 317 to 322 – Our Ladies of Perpetual Punk, Beli w/ Purpleheart

Named for the mixed-race ladies of punk rock with purple hair, Our Ladies of Perpetual Punk have ¾ vertical grain Beli with ¼ horizontal grain Purpleheart woods. The heights range from 0.733” to 0.755”, and the diameters from 0.864” to 0.989”.

Beli is similar to Zebrawood in color, but less expensive. It has a medium-coarse, medium-hard fibrous grain, and cuts leaving strings of grain at the margins. It has nice iridescence in the side grain, a little hard to see here with vertical grain.

Purpleheart has finer and more uniform grain, which is highly iridescent when properly polished and finished. As can be seen from the different angles of the knobs in the light in the top rows. It has an unfortunate tendency to burn and lose color when heated by turning, sanding or polishing, ending up looking more like beige Cherry wood. One of the guys at Woodcraft suggested that oils cause the color, which can be induce to come back to the surface. So the Purpleheart in these knobs was wetted with 91% rubbing alcohol (to avoid raising grain in the Beli) after cutting and polishing, and left to set for several days. It seems to have worked.

These knobs were primed with Rustoleum clear glossy spray lacquer. Some were finished with Minwax Polycrylic. But roughing the surface of the lacquer with fine abrasive cloth to assure a good tooth for the acrylic to adhere to allowed enough of the water-based finish through to cause the grain to raise. This required repeated sanding and coating, so the last three knobs (or more) have only lacquer. Still the surface texture of all the knobs has raised grain that can be felt. It’s wood – that’s what some wood does. Consider it a better gripping surface.